German energy company LEAG is pressing ahead with the greening of the Lusatia mining region in northeast Germany with the construction start of a 17-MW solar park and progress in the development of a 21-MW floating solar plant on the Cottbuser Ostsee.
The power company together with its partner EP New Energies (EPNE) has broken the ground on a 17-MW solar park at the Lippendorf coal-fired power plant in Saxony.
About 30,000 modules will be set up on a 14-hectare site of a former industrial tailings plant which is located on the site of a former opencast mine. Once connected to the grid, the solar farm should be capable of supplying nearly 6,000 households.
For the head of renewable energy at LEAG, Fabian von Oesen, the start of construction marks the progress in the company's transformation into a green electricity producer.
At the end of September, LEAG, which operates four opencast mines in the region, unveiled a strategy to green the Lusatia mining area with the installation of 7 GW of renewable energy capacity by the end of this decade and give a boost to the energy transition in the region.
With the Boehlen solar park, the company's GigawattFactory project is getting a step closer to the goal of deploying 7 GW of renewable generation capacity, mainly on opencast mining areas and at power plant sites, von Oesen said.
In addition, progress has been made on the planned 21-MW floating solar plant on the Cottbuser Ostsee after the municipal council in Cottbus issued a resolution, clearing the way for LEAG to submit an application for a building permit this year.
Once the building permit has been granted, the installation of the dolphins to anchor the system on the artificial lake near Cottbus could begin next spring.
The floating solar park will take a small part of the lake's surface at the greatest possible distance to the shores used by tourists and outside of planned shipping routes. It is expected to produce 20,000 MWh annually and supply 5,700 households with electricity.
In addition to solar, LEAG sees potential to develop wind parks in the region to support its green transition. An application for a permit to build a 24-MW wind farm near the Cottbuser Ostsee was submitted in July.
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A view of the Cottbuser Ostsee, an artificial lake in northeast Germany. Image by EPNE.
